14 February 2012

Housekeeping on a Tuesday

Your bedroom should be your sanctuary. A place where you can go and relax so that sleep comes easily and is peaceful and restful. When your bedroom is full of clutter, with piles of clothes and books and stuff everywhere, when the bed is rumpled and the sheets and pillowslips stale it is not a sanctuary.

Just like I have for cleaning the kitchen and loungeroom, I have a routine for keeping our bedroom somewhere I like to be, my sanctuary. It's the place I go to when I need time out from the hustle and bustle that is our home.

A restful bedroom is an essential. If you are having trouble sleeping, tossing and turning, struggling to get to sleep, perhaps it's because your bedroom isn't your sanctuary.

Bedrooms tend to be dumping grounds for other peoples stuff or those household items that don't really have a home. If you want to keep your bedroom as your sanctuary then put a stop to the dumping!

Today you are working on your bedroom so gather everything that shouldn't be there and remove it. Dump it in the familyroom or the kitchen - it will be disposed of pretty quickly if it's in sight all the time.

If your bedroom is messy and a little on the dusty side it will take you more than 20 minutes to get it to "sanctuary" status. That's OK, Rome wasn't built in a day and a bedroom sanctuary doesn't have to be created in 20 minutes. The trick is to keep at it until all of a sudden you'll find that perhaps you can get your bedroom cleaned, from ceiling to floor, in 15 minutes!

Here's my routine, in two parts, daily and weekly.

Daily (5 Minutes in the morning)

Let your bed air while you are showering and dressing.

1. Before you leave the bathroom do a 30 second swish'n'swipe of the basin and loo. Hang up towels and bath mats and make sure the window is open just a little. Spritz the shower with vinegar spray to keep it clean.2. As soon as you are dressed, make the bed. If you're not sure how to make a bed properly, I've put some instructions here.3. Open the curtains and windows.4. Straighten the bedside tables. Put books in a neat pile, arrange the lamp and clock.5. Gather any dirty laundry into a bundle.6. Collect any glasses, plates from midnight snacks etc7. Take the laundry to the laundry and the dishes to the kitchen.

Unless you move very slowly this will take no more than five minutes, at the very most. Make it a habit to put clean washing away immediately. No matter how late it is or how tired you are it is much easier to put things away immediately. When you take your clothes off after work or before bed hang up those things that can be worn again. Put shoes and handbags away. Don't drop them on the floor. It's messy, time consuming and creates more work for you in the long run.

Weekly (20 minutes on a Tuesday)

1. After you are showered and dressed strip the bed linens and gather any dirty towels, bathmats and facewashers. Take them straight to the laundry, put them in the washing machine, add 3 teaspoons Cheapskates Washing Powder and turn the machine on.2. Dust the cornices, skirting boards and window sills with the cobweb broom.3. Wipe over the windows with a microfibre window cloth.4. Dust and polish the timber furniture.5. Dust the pictures on the walls.6. Collect any dirty washing and take it to the laundry.7. Remake the bed with fresh linens. See here for my way of making a comfy bed.8. Clean the ensuite if you have one. If you've been following the daily routine it will take five minutes.9. Take your cobweb broom and dust the cornices and skirting boards.10. Spritz the shower, toilet, basin and vanity tops. Wipe over with a damp microfibre cloth, follow with a clean towel to dry. 11. Empty the wastepaper basket.12. Put out fresh towels, bathmats and facewashers.13. Sweep the floor.14. Mop the floor with hot water and white vinegar. Our bathroom is so small I sweep it and then spritz it with vinegar and just use a microfibre cloth to wipe over the floor, backing out as I go so as not to have to walk over a damp floor.15. Vacuum the bedroom floor.

Your bedroom is clean, from ceiling to floor, your bed is freshly made and everything is spic'n'span.

Now you can relax in your sanctuary, enjoying a restful sleep every night.

You are very welcome Tracy - my bedroom is my favourite place in our whole house :) The family joke is that if I could just have a little fridge and a kettle in there I'd never leave it, I am very fond of my bedroom.

Search This Blog

Welcome!

If this is your first visit, welcome! If you're a regular visitor, welcome back.

This is my record of the daily challenges the Armstrong family faces as we live life the Cheapskates way - debt free, cashed up and laughing - and try to stay that way.

Here I talk about the little things I do that save us a lot of money and the bigger things that may only save a small amount. I share the things that work for us and the things that don't. I say it as I see it, so if I try something and think it's a dud, I'll tell you. And if I try something and it works, I'll share it with you.

You'll get an insight into a very frugal family living a very comfortable 21st Century lifestyle and I hope it encourages and inspires you as you make your journey to living life the Cheapskates way.